Recent events

Hey!

This time I will be lazy and write only in English to save time (have to write about Tokyo before holiday starts properly)... In this post I will write about the events after Tokyo until today.

After 9th of January didn't happen much until Friday the 13th when we celebrated two of my roommates at the same time (birthdays were on 13th and 14th) with large group of friends. First we were once again in our dorm's lounge, but after ten o'clock we went to Round1 for the whole night, it was so much fun! Played billiard, darts, ping pong, video games and mini bowling. I also roller skated and tried riding an electronic bull which was fun but scary. There was also karaoke going on, but I didn't sing. We left at the closing time that was 6am.

Pictures from the campus

The next day my friend came back to Sapporo and during 10 days we explored the city a bit more. We visited this one good food place (I will get the name some day!) I had been once before with my two friends. After eating we went to TV Tower, last time I was there during my first week in Sapporo. :D Too bad I didn't have my camera and my phone's camera was not working properly so there are no photos except one bad one...

From TV Tower we walked to Susukino and rode the ferris wheel (finally)! No photos of it either...

I had school normally during the week, so we did things after I had finished my day. On Monday 16th we went to this same Round1 we had been in the weekend. Same games were played this time too.

On Tuesday and Wednesday we didn't do much because I had group works to work on. Tuesday: lunch in Jikan, Wednesday: dinner in some pasta-pizza place.

But on Friday there finally happened something. In the morning we went to ice skate and Clock Tower before my school, and after it we took a bus to Jozankei where we stayed over at Jozankei View Hotel. We had a Japanese styled room with dinner and breakfast included. Soon after arriving to the hotel we had the dinner which was a huuuuge buffet and so good! With full stomach became sleepy of course, but had to go to onsen (hot spring) before bed. Onsen was very nice and relaxing, the hotel had outside bath (露天風呂 = rotenburo) as well. Had to go back to room for a break before passing out. Then we went to the top floor's view onsen, could have seen the mountains outside but because it was midnight already, couldn't see much, lol. But it was nice anyway. I slept on a futon for the first time and it wasn't too bad. :D

I missed the rooftop onsen in the evening, but I woke up 6:30am to go there. It was in the same place as the view onsen, so now I could see the mountains outside while taking the bath. The roof top onsen was cool but way too hot for my taste, and snowing made it even worse, so I didn't stay there for long. After bath it was time for buffet breakfast, once again everything was so delicious!

Then it was time to leave the hotel and go to Sapporo Kokusai Ski Area. The bus was 40 minutes late and it was freezing outside... But eventually we made it there and then had to line like one hour for ski gear because of all the foreigners. Slopes were nice luckily, it was great to ski again. :'3 Afternoon the bus left back to Sapporo.

Clock Tower

Managed to see futon making!

View from the room

On Sunday 22nd I was finally able to see Morning Musume (モーニング娘。) live after so many years! The concert was amazing and I couldn't help but cry during the first songs, I was so happy! <3 The concert hall, Nitori Bunka Hall was very nice venue for the concert.
After the concert I met my friend again and we had tonkatsu for dinner. We also went to JR Tower Observatory (finally!) to see the night view of Sapporo again. No photos (stupid phone), but I will go there in April again so then I will take my proper camera.

The next day we went to Round1 again to play billiard and darts and sing karaoke for hours. Before Round1 we ate in cocoro scones café near my dorm. On Tuesday evening my friend left back to Finland. We ate in Jikan before heading to airport.

Time after that has been mostly studying, had last exams and essays that took all my time almost. I finally saw some of my friends on 28th by dinner and games  at our Chinese friend's place.
Week after that we had a farewell party for our two friends; one leaving back to Kobe and one leaving the country soon. We went skiing, this time to Rusutsu. So far this is my favourite ski resort here in Hokkaido. Had to wake up early for bus again, which was free luckily. :)
We skied the whole day, lunch between of course, and the views were amazing. The slopes were good and weather not the worst, cloudy and bit snowy but we got glimpse of sun as well.
The bus was supposed to leave back at 5pm, but we waited 45 minutes for one lost girl. Back in Sapporo me and my roommate went to onsen (as we had no time in Rusutsu) before heading to Sumibi izakaya where were like 30 people drinking and chatting, even one of our teachers came there, lol. All in all the day was very nice, it was sad to say goodbyes though.

Had to take picture of the name of the mountain,

because my cousin's family name is Isola :-P

This week I have been planning my spring break plans; where to travel and what to do, it's surprisingly stressing, should have started way earlier... We also visited the snow festival (post about it coming some day).
Last night we had midnight crepes made by our roommate and today we had pancakes at Sapporo Pancake & Parfait Last Mint with some friends. I had a smoked salmon one, so delicious!

Sapporo White Illumination & München Christmas Market

Hei taas! Hi again!

Vähän myöhässä tämä teema, mutta no jaa. Marras-joulukuussa Odori-puistossa oli siis München joulutori sekä illumination-valaistus, joista mainitsin aiemmissa postauksissa jo. Muutaman kerran siis kävin molemmissa ystävien kanssa ja kuvia ottamassa. Pidemmittä puheitta siirrytäänpä itse kuviin.

This theme comes a bit late but oh well. During November and December there were München Christmas Market and illumination in Odori park as you might remember from previous posts. Few times I went to both with friends and took some pictures. But without further ado, let's move on to the pictures themselves.

36th Sapporo White Illumination 18.11.-25.12.2016

Reflections inside an igloo

15th München Christmas Market 25.11.-24.12.2016

Suomen paja / Finland's stand

Long time no see

Heeei pitkästä aikaa ja hyvää uutta vuotta! Melkein kuukausi kulunut viime postauksesta, pahoittelut! Viimeiset pari viikkoa kului ystäväni luona Tokiossa ja tarkoituksena oli päivittää paljon paljon aikaisemmin, mutta oli niin paljon nähtävää ja tehtävää, ettei vaan ehtinyt… Tästä Tokion reissusta teen oman sarjan postauksia kun kerkeän, nyt kerron vaan lyhyesti reissua edeltävästä ajasta.

Heeey after a long time and happy new year! Almost one month has passed since my last post, apologies! Last couple of weeks went by my friend’s place in Tokyo and the goal was to post much much sooner, but as there were so much to see and do I just didn’t have time to update… This Tokyo trip will be its own series of posts, now I’m just going to write shortly about the time before the trip.

Perjantaina 16. päivä ystäväni tuli tosiaan Sapporoon ja toi ISON lahjalähetyksen Suomesta… Nämä herkut riittänee loppuvaihdon ajaksi. Pikkusiskoni oli myös tehnyt aivan ihanan kortin ja kirjoittanut oman runon minulle, kyyneleethän siinä tuli silmiin lukiessa. Kävimme ostoksilla keskustassa sekä sushilla ennen kuin päivä oli pulkassa.

On Friday 16th of December my friend from Finland came to Sapporo and brought a HUGE present package from home… These treats must cover the rest of my exchange. My little sister had also made a lovely card and written own poem that of course brought tears to my eyes when I read it. Some shopping and sushi eating was done in the city centre before the day was finished.

Lauantaina menimme vihdoinkin laskettelemaan porukalla! Kohde oli Asarigawan onsen-lomakeskus lähellä Otarua. Herätys oli 5:45 ja asemalta otimme bussin Asarigawaan, yli tunnin matka sinne. Sää oli aluksi loistava, loppua kohden alkoi huonontua, mutta lumi oli kuuleman mukaan parhaimmillaan ja sen kyllä tunsi, oli niin mahtavaa lasketella! :3

Ruokatauko oli välissä ja iltapäivällä lähti bussi takaisin Sapporoon, jossa osa söi vielä tonkatsu-ravintolassa, oli todella hyvää leivitettyä ja uppopaistettua porsasta! Sitten kotiin lepäilemään ja valmistautumaan seuraavaan päivään, jolloin oli vuorossa kauan odotettu Otaru-reissu.

On Saturday we finally went skiing together with friends! Destination was Asarigawa’s onsen resort near Otaru. Alarm was set to 5:45am and from the station we took a bus to Asarigawa, took over an hour to get there. First the weather was great, later on it turned worse, but the snow was apparently at its best and you could definitely feel it, it was so lovely to ski! :3

We had a lunch break between skiing and in the afternoon the bus left back to Sapporo where some of us had dinner at tonkatsu restaurant, the breaded and deep fried pork was delicious! Then we headed home to rest and prepare for the next day’s long-waited Otaru trip.

Lähtö oli aamupäivällä, junalla meni noin 40 minuuttia Otaruun, jossa kiertelimme sitten koko päivän ystäväni ja toisen japanilaisen kanssa. Lounaan söimme 鮨まるやま (sushi maruyama) -nimisessä ravintolassa. Erityisen mukava paikka oli mielestäni 小樽オルゴール堂, jossa oli paljon erilaisia soittorasioita ja ihanan jouluinen tunnelma.

Illalla Sapporossa söimme ja joimme vielä izakayassa pari tuntia, sinne tuli myös ystäväni asuntolalta.

Departure was at noon, train took about 40 minutes to Otaru where we walked around with my friend and another Japanese guy. The lunch we ate in a restaurant called 鮨まるやま (sushi maruyama). A particularly nice place in my opinion was 小樽オルゴール堂 that had lots of different kinds of music boxes and a lovely Christmas atmosphere.

In the evening we ate and drank in izakaya for couple of hours, there also came my friend from dorm.

Tiistaina 20.12. viimeisen kerran katsastin München joulutorin ja Sapporo White Illuminationin ystäväni kanssa ja illalla tein kämppiksilleni joulu(riisi)puuroa. Lisänä oli myös pipareita ja glögiä. Syy miksi tarjosin niitä jo nyt enkä myöhemmin, oli ettei seuraavana päivänä olisi ehtinyt ja sitä seuraavana lähdin jo Tokioon.

On Tuesday 20th I checked the München Christmas Market and Sapporo White Illumination for the last time with my friend and in the evening I made Christmas (rice) porridge for my roommates. We also had gingerbread men and glögi (mulled wine). The reason why I served them that day and not later, was that there was no time the next day and the day after I already left to Tokyo.

Seuraavana päivänä keskiviikkona olikin illalla joulujuhlat asuntolamme 1. rakennuksen lounge-tilassa. Kaikki toivat lahjan Secret Santa:a varten sekä naposteltavaa/ruokaa. Leivoin neljä pientä poropiirakkaa sekä kaksi mustikkapiirakkaa toisen suomalaisen tytön kanssa. Mukava iltama oli hyvien ystävien kanssa, taas pelailtiin korttia, jutusteltiin ja lopuksi yhteiskuvia. Huoneessani vielä pakkailin Tokiota varten ennen nukkumaanmenoa.

In the next day’s evening we had Christmas party in our dormitory’s lounge. Everyone brought a gift for Secret Santa and snacks/food. I baked four small reindeer pies and two blueberry pies with other Finnish girl for the party. The evening was nice with good friends; played cards, chatted, and finally took group pictures. Yet before bedtime I did final packings for Tokyo.

Koulussa alkaa olemaan ryhmätöitä ja kokeet lähestyvät, joten saapa taas nähdä milloin seuraava postaus tulee… Pari ideaa on jo takataskussa, mutta Tokion reissu tulee viemään kauan aikaa (nimimerkillä kuvien valinta kestää tautisen kauan)…

Group presentations and exams are getting closer at school so we will see when I have time to update again… I have few ideas ready in my mind already, but posts about Tokyo will take lots of time (as choosing pictures will take damn long)…